Caltrain governance talks break down in dispute between counties

Caltrain logo

SAN MATEO, Calif. — Discussions over the governance of Caltrain have broken down, reflecting concerns about a lawsuit between the agencies involved in operating the San Francisco Bay Area commuter railroad. The San Mateo Daily Journal reports board chair Dev Davis attended Friday’s Caltrain meeting but would not participate in discussion of the governance issue. […]

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BNSF coal train derails on recently reactivated line

BNSF Railway logo

BENNET, Neb. — Ten cars of a BNSF coal train derailed Friday evening on a recently reactivated line southeast of Lincoln, Neb. The Lincoln Journal Star reports portions of the train still on the tracks initially blocked traffic on Bennet Road, but crews were able to separate the train to allow traffic flow to resume. […]

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‘Broadway’ interrupted

Steam locomotive with passenger train by signal gantry

‘Broadway’ interrupted Pennsylvania Railroad K4s Pacific 5369 pauses with the eastbound Broadway Limited at Englewood Union Station on Chicago’s South Side in the late 1920s or ’30s. Singly and later doubleheaded, the K4 was standard power on PRR trains 28 and 29 for a quarter of a century. Andrew Hritz photo […]

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Making your cars’ wheels more free-rolling

A “truck tuner” – a double-ended reamer sized for the job – is used to clean and reshape the sockets in an HO scale truck sideframe assembly

Q: The axles stick in the journal boxes of some of my rolling stock. I tried scraping them out and lubricating them. Any help would be appreciated. – Christopher Kramer, Chicago A: Depending on what tool you’re using, scraping them out might be making the bearing surfaces rougher, worsening your problem. And lubricating axle bearing […]

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Design “elemental” layouts in large scale

Scene on a large-scale railway built of wooden blocks

  When I was young, I had an American Flyer train and a set of American Plastic Bricks (interlocking toy bricks made in the 1960s). I liked running the train, but I was particularly drawn to the bricks. I could easily build something, tear it down, and build something else. Years later, I built an […]

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Meet the Modeler: Pelle Søeborg

A blue CSX diesel locomotive crosses a truss bridge over a muddy green river

What was your first train set or locomotive? As a kid I had a Märklin train, but I never had a layout, just a circle of track I put on the floor when I wanted to play with my trains. When I became a teenager, I lost interest in my trains and sold them. I […]

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Pennsylvania RR Washington Avenue Branch switching layout

HO scale model of arched roof freight house with Pennsylvania Railroad switcher and boxcars

When I first moved to Wisconsin to start working for Model Railroader, my family and I were in a two-bedroom apartment. I had built a freelanced Pennsylvania RR layout in my apartment back in Pennsylvania that filled a 7 x 11-foot section of our long apartment living room. It was basically a donut, with a […]

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JTC N scale 53-foot high-cube containers

Three high-cube containers

While Jacksonville Terminal Co. has up until now stuck to producing accurate scale models of prototypical intermodal equipment, the company is branching out into fantasy schemes with its new Visionary Series. The first three offerings in this series let N scale modelers simulate interchange with the well-known railroads of the fictional Appalachian Lines: W. Allen […]

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Union Pacific derailment in Iowa leads to brief propane leak

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

AMES, Iowa — Twenty-seven cars of a Union Pacific train derailed Thursday afternoon in Ames, briefly leaking propane from one car. KDSM-TV reports the derailment occurred about 1:30 p.m., with Ames Fire Chief Rich Higgins saying he did send an evacuation notice to nearby industrial plants after the propane leak was discovered. A Union Pacific […]

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Tangent HO 40-foot combo-door boxcar

Tangent 40 foot combo door boxcar

Over the past 14 years, Tangent Scale Models has become well-known for its line of highly detailed HO and N scale models. That tradition continues with the company’s latest release, a newly tooled HO scale Pullman-Standard PS-1 40-foot combination-door boxcar. The model has railroad-specific details, Pullman-style ladders and bracket grab irons, and Kadee scale couplers. […]

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PRR K4s engine No. 1361 to be restored in $2.6 million campaign

Man speaking in front of locomotive boiler in building

ALTOONA, Pa. — Pennsylvania Railroad Class K4s 4-6-2 steam passenger locomotive No. 1361 will be restored to operating condition under a $2.6 million campaign announced Thursday by the Railroaders Memorial Museum and its partner, engineering consulting firm FMW Solutions LLC. Making the announcement was C. Wick Moorman, chairman of a newly reconstituted museum board and […]

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